Costello: 'Cloudy' gets creative, has plenty punny goodness

Friday

Oct 4, 2013 at 4:00 PM

The puns are good and will keep adults interested.

Jeremy Costello

The fun thing about animated movies is the visual creativity that ensues.

"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2" picks up the story right where the first movie left off. Thanks to the Flint Lockwood Diatomic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator (FLDSMDF), the rain that fell upon the Chewandswallow island in the form of food has given plenty to eat. But too much of a good thing proves to be bad. The food starts mutating and comes alive, which is perceived as a big problem that must be dealt.

Enter Chester V, a rich and famous scientist who has a factory of recruits. Flint grew up loving Chester V, so it was a no-brainer for him to go work for Chester at his company Live Corp and try to solve this crisis.

Upon arriving at Live Corp., Flint quickly discovers what life is like as a scientist drone. He meets Barb, Chester's No. 2, who tells Flint how things work at the factory. The scientists must diligently stay at work coming up with inventions that Chester approves. Live Corp was one of those classic faceless corporations that everyone loves to hate until they're actually inside it and see all the luxuries there are.

Flint struggles for a while at Live Corp, but eventually Chester V not only meets him in person (before, it was a hologram of Chester), but now Flint is asked to save the island from disaster caused by his own FLDSMDF invention. So Flint and a handful of others, including his dad and potential girlfriend scientist, are assembled to make a trek back to the island to try and stop the food's terror. They aren't exactly the A-Team, but they'll do.

This is where the movie really starts cooking. Flint and the gang come across some exotic "Foodimals." There are giant hamburger spiders with french fries for legs, dinosaurs with celery necks and even sub sandwich submarines. In the first film, there were a lot of great puns with the food. The puns get even crazier (sometimes they're a stretch, but still original), and this time there are foodimal creatures to go along with them.

Flint and his group eventual discover the problem with the foodimals isn't what they thought it would be, and they also discover an evil mastermind had his hand in the plot the whole time. Isn't that how most animated movies go?

"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2" was enjoyable. It wasn't as charming as the original, but kids won't notice that. The sequel did have a couple charming moments of its own, including one with Flint, his dad and a fishing trip.

The puns are good and will keep adults interested. The voice acting was amusing, especially during one scene when a foodimal acts as a translator. All in all, a decent flick. Also, there is a quick scene mid-credits that's worth sticking around for.

Jeremy Costello is the Gazette Sports Editor and the Entertainment Guru. Contact him at jcostello@augustagazette.com, and Twitter @Jdotco.